Non-toxic toys

Baby toys are something I never considered could have toxic ingredients until I became a mother.

During my pregnancy I researched a little bit about it but not enough and still bought some mainstream brand toys, like Fisher Price. Since I was waiting for my baby to arrive I didn’t buy too many, and now I’m glad I didn’t.

Once I had my baby I became a little obsessed with finding non toxic baby toys. The more I learned the more I freaked out about all toys and almost threw away every single toy we had.

After a few days I came to the realization that I cannot protect my daughter from everything. She will come in contact with all kinds of toys during play dates and once she’s going to school. This is when I decided that I wouldn’t throw away the few toys she had, but that from now on I would only  buy non toxic toys. I also installed a rule in our home: if it’s going into my daughter’s mouth it HAS to be non toxic.

I also decided to avoid plastic toys as much as possible and toys made in China. I know there are some manufacturers that make toys in China under a strict quality regiment, like Melissa & Doug toys but if you can avoid China I think it’s best.

Keep in mind that European standards on toys are stricter than the United States, which means that the toys sold there are safer than the ones sold here. That being a said, a great and cheap alternative for safe toys is Ikea. They don’t have a large variety but I’ve gotten some wooden toys my daughter loves.

If you still want to buy some mainstream brand toys I suggest you buy them used since a lot of the toxins might be gone by then. Also make sure you put them under the sun, it helps to air them out and get rid of some of the toxins in them.

If you want to learn more about toxic toys and what you should look for,  I recommend you read Clean Toys, Green Toys and Toys Made Close to Home, written by Raising Natural Kids. It’s the most comprehensive summary I’ve found online.

Also, healthytoys.org has tested many baby and children toys so if you’re going to buy a toy search it here first, it only takes a few seconds. Each product they “tested was given an overall rating, as well as an individual chemical rating for cadmium, chlorine, lead, arsenic, bromine, mercury and for some product categories tin.”

I also like the toy recommendations given in  Toys (No Plastic!), written by Natural Baby Mama.

I know non toxic toys are more expensive than some of the toxic toys, but your child doesn’t need a mountain of toys. Instead of spending a lot of money on many toys spend the same amount of money but on a few non toxic toys. I did this with my daughter and it works great, she has about 5 favorite toys that she’s obsessed with right now and once she’s stops liking these I’ll get a few more.

If you don’t want to do the research on each toy brand, just stick to the following list; these are my favorite toys. They are non toxic and have great toys.

• Plan Toys
• Green Toys
• Under the Nile (for plush toys)
• Vulli (makers of Sophie the Giraffe)
• Camden Rose
• Indestructible Books (my baby is obsessed with Baby Faces)
• North Star
• Haba
• For bath toys the best ones I’ve found are Boon

I know there are more non toxic toys brands out there but I haven’t tested them yet. I will add more toys to this list as I research more and test them out with my daughter.

Do you have any other non toxic toy brands you prefer?

Disclaimer: I don’t work for any of the companies mentioned in this post.  What’s written here is my personal opinion. The products mentioned in this post were not given to me by the manufacturer for review. They were purchased by me and I just wanted to share my findings.
By buying from the links in this post I will get a very small commission – you can see it as a contribution to help keep my blog running.  Thanks!